Uttebnal-combustion engine



R. F. PIATT.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPmcmoN FILED MAR. a. |915.

1 ,299,774. Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

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` WITNESSES, INVENTOR.

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RICHARD F. PIATT, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

Application led March 3, 1916. Serial No. 81,874.

To all whom t may conce/fn.'

Be it known that I, RIGHARD F. Pnvrr, u citizen of the United States,residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson, State of Kentucky,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Internal-CombustionEngines, which improvement is fully set forth in the followingspecification and the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates particularly to that type of internal combustionengines used for the propulsion of automobiles and motor cars, althoughit may be applied to engines for other uses.

It is the object of my invention to provide a self igniting, internalcombustion en gine, having a secondary or driven shaft that shall bepropelled by the engine at lower rotative speeds than the crank shaft ofthe engine, without material loss of the power of the engine; also toutilize the heat contained in the burned gases exhausted from the engineto increase the power of the engine.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a vertical, longitudinalsectional view of a vertical two cylinder, two-stroke cycle, gasolene oroil engine, showing the self igniting device, the manner in which thesecondary shaft is propelled by the crank shaft, and the manner in whichthe heat in the exhaust gases is utilized to add to the power of theengine.

Fig. 2 shows a vertical, transverse, ser-- tional view of the sameengine.

Fig. 3 shows a vertical transverse, sectional view of a vertical,four-stroke, cycle engine illustrating the application of my inventionto that type of engine.

In the drawings, Figs. l and 2, represent a vertical, multiple cylinder,two-stroke cycle, gasolene or oil engine, having combustion cylinders,pistons, connecting rods, air admission valves, by-pass ports, exhaustports and crank shaft.

In Fig. 2, S X and Y represent an elevation of a piston having threediameters working slidably in cylinders T f and d. Cylinder T is theigniting cylinder, f the combustion cylinder and d, an annular spacesurrounding piston X, an air motor cylinder.

The pistons of the engine are connected todthe crank shaft by suitableconnecting ro s.

In Fig. 1 the small ports P in the head of the combustion cylinder,connect that cylinder with the igniting cylinder T, about the middle ofthe length of the latter.

The lengthwise and cross port R, in piston S, corresponds with ports Pwhen the iston is near the end of its compressing stroke.

The openings g into combustion cylinders j', are for the purpose ofallowing gasolene or oil to be sprayed 'into the combustion cylinders atthe proper time to form the working gas. I propose to spray the gasoleneor oil into the combustion cylinders by means of a pump which I do notshow in the drawings, as it will be the sub'ect of an application to bemade by lne or a separate patent.

In Fig. l, O is an air compressor having two or more cylinders. Thecylinders and crank case of this compressor are attached to the enginecrank shaft and revolve with it. W is the driven shaft and forms thecrank shaft of the compressor which is provided with pistons t' andconnecting rods J, also inlet valves K in the heads of the cylinders anddischarge valves I in the heads of the pistons, so that air compressedin the cylinders is discharged into the crank case and passes throughthe hollow fixed bearing N, in which the driven shaft 7 works, to thepipe K which conducts the air to the heater.

D is an air heater containing the coil E for the purpose of heating theair compressed in the air compressor O, by means of the burned gasesexhausted from the engine cylinders.

C is a check valve which prevents air in pipe n from passing to the coilE, but allows air in E to pass to n.

A is an air reservoir for the purpose of storingl compressed air. B is astop cock for the purpose of retaining the air in A.

F is a four-way cock for the purpose of controlling the air from the aircompressor O, or from the air reservoir A, as it passes to the airmotor.

J is a stop cock which opens pipe K to the atmosphere.

M is the exhaust port for the combustion cylinders and is connected toheater D by the pipe L.

G is a pipe leading from heater D to convey the exhaust gases to theatmosphere, o1' to an exhaust nmfiler.

H is a pipe to convey air from the fourway cock F to the atmosphere, orto an exhaust mutlier.

Pipes I, I2 connect the four-way cock F with the rotating air valves UU2 of cylinders d. The cylinders d, together with the hollow rotatinvalves U U2 and the pistons Y forni an an' motor for thc purpose ofutilizing the power in the air Compressed in the air compressor O, andheated and expanded in the heater D, to assist in turning the enginecrank shaft.

The hollow rotating valves U U2 are air inlet and exhaust valves for theair motor cylinders d, and have parts arranged to cut off the airadmission before the end of the working stroke, and are driven by achain V from the engine crank shaft, by means of sprocket wheels on thevalve shafts and the crank shaft. The air motor ma be started and run ineither direction by a mitting air to the motor, either through U for onedirection of rotation, or through. UZ for the opposite direction.

Fig. 3 represents the application of my invention to `the four-stroke,cycle type of internal combustion engine. In this type of e ine, thesmall piston S and the small cylin er T, are the same as in thetwo-stroke cycle, but the cylinders of the air motor h are formed bymaking the lower portion of the pistons e smaller than the middleportions a, and causing the portions e to work in cylinders Z, which aresmaller in diameter than the engine cylinders.

The rotating air valves U U2 are used for the air admission and exhaustto the air motor in a manner similar to that in which they are describedabove as being used in the two-stroke cycle type of engine.

The operation of my invention is as follows When it is desired to startthe engine, the air reservoir having been previously charged with air atconsiderable pressure, the fourway cock F is set for the direction ofrotation desired and air admitted to the air motor by opening stop cockB sufficiently long to start the engine rotating. Rotation of the enginehaving commenced, air is drawn into the crank case chambers through theair inlet valves as the pistons rise. When the pistons descend, the'airis forced through the by-pass ports into the combustion cylinders,clearing out the burned gases through the exhaust ports and supplyingfresh air for compression in the combustion cylinders of the engine.lVhen a. piston closes the inlet and exhaust ports of a combustioncylinder f, compression of the air commences in the cylinder andgasolene or oil is sprayed into the cylinder through the opening g by apump previously mentioned in this specication, forming an explosive gas.As the piston nears the upper end of its stroke, and the gas iscompressed to a considerable ressure, a small ortion of the compressegas contained in t e combustion cylinder f enters the small ignitingcylinder T and is further compressed by the small piston S to a pressuresulliciently high to cause thc gas to ignite from thel heat due tocompression.

It will be noted by reference to the drawings that when the piston S hastraveled about .half way up into cylinder T, the cross port R is closedby the cylinder wallsof T and the small ports l? are closed by thepiston S, thus confining the air in the upper part of igniting cylinderl until the piston S reaches the end of its stroke, when the cross portR registers with the ports P allowing the gas in the igniting cylinderT, wliiclh has been ignited by the high compression occurring in thatcylinder, to fiow into and ignite the gas in the combustion space of thecombustion cylinder f, thus producing a. working stroke of the engine.The cross port R and the registerin ports P cause the flame incident toignition of the highly compressed gas or mixture, to pass into thecombustion cylinder at somewhat widely separated points, so thatignition takes place on opposite sides of the cylinder axis, andignition and explosion of the mixture are hence made uniform over thepiston area, a result which in practice it'is found desirable to attain.The engine having been started, as described above, the cylinders of aircompressor O, being attached to the engine crank shaft, revolve with thecrank shaft while the pistons of the compressor, being attached to thedriven shaft W, reciprocate in the cylinders as shaft W is required todo Work and does not readily revolve.

T he reciprocating of the pistons of the compressor causes thecompressor to draw in air through its inlet valves and discharge the airinto its crank case, from whence it flows through the pipes providedthrough the air heater D to the air motor previously described. Thecubical contents of the air conipressor cylinders being considerablygreater than the cubical contents of the air motor cylinders, and theair being cut off from the air motor cylinders early in the stroke ofthe motor, and the volume of the air compressed being largely increasedby being heated to a high temperature in the heater, causes aconsiderable air pressure to accumulate, which, when increasedsufficiently, will cause the driven shaft W to revolve at a lower speedthan the crank shaft.

The relation between the speed of the crank shaft and that of the drivenshaft depends upon the work to lbe performed by the driven shaft' thegreater the effort required to turn the shaft, the lower will be itsspeed as related to the speed of the crank shaft.

When it is desired to operate the engine without turning the drivenshaft W, the stop cock J is opened and the air compressed in the aircompressor allowed to discharge into the atmosphere.

lhen it is desired to charge the air reservoir with compressed air, thestop cock B is opened while the engine is driving the driven shaft 7.

In the arrangement of the air compressor and air motor, which I haveprovided for causing the driven shaft to revolve at a lower speed thanthe engine crank shaft, the air compressed in the air compressor, due tothe difference in rotative speeds of the crank shaft and driven shaft,is utilized in the air motor to assist the engine in doing work.

I arrange the ports in the valves of the air motor so that the admissionvalves close early in the stroke of the pistons, thus utilizing the airexpansively and in the most eco nomical manner; but as is well known inthe art, it is not possible to so construct an air motor that it willdevelop and deliver as much power as was required to compress the airwhich supplies it.

Under some conditions of operation the losses occurring, were only thecompressor and air motor used for the purpose intended, would be of suchmagnitude as to seriously interfere with the usefulness of the system.

To obviate the losses which occur, and to add to the power available forpropelling the driven shaft, I employ the heater D and heat the aircompressed to a very high tem perature by means of the heat contained inthe exhaust gases from the engine before using the air in the motor,thus very largely increasing the volume of the air available for drivingthe motor and adding to the power it develops.

In practice there will ordinarily be eniployed a plurality of cylinderswith their pistons, connecting rods, cranks, and other co-actingelements, though the invention may be embodied in an engine employingbut one explosion cylinder and piston with the necessary coperatingparts. It is Vhence to be understood that where in the claims a cylinderor piston is recited in the singular number, it is not intended to eX-clude, but rather to include, a plurality of cylinders and pistons. Inother words, as it is impossible to use a plurality without of necessityusing one, the singular forni is employed to cover and protect the useof one or more as may bc found expedient in any given case.

The air compressor here shown and dcscribed is illustrative only, andmay be replaced by another of any suitable type. The air motor elementmay, when operated by the internal combustion element, or in the case ofan automobile, when operated by the turning of thc engine crank-shaftthrough coasting and without power, act as an air compressor to storeair in the reservoir.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire lo secureby Letters Patent, is as follows:

l. An internal combustion engine comrising, in combination, an explosioncylinlder, piston, connecting rod, and crank-shaft; a power-transmittingshaft distinct from the engine crank-shaft; an air compressor interposedbetween the engine crankshaft and the power-transmitting shaft, anditself provided With a crank-pin; a revolving casing attached to one ofsaid shafts and provided with cylinders; pistons movable within saidcylinders; connecting rods connectin said pistons with the crankpin ofthe ot er of said shafts; an air motor connected with and serving toturn or aid in turning the engine crankshaft; and an air pipecommunicating with the cylinders of the air com` pressor, and serving todeliver air therefrom to the air motor.

2. An internal combustion engine comprising, in combination., a cylinderhaving two aXlally alined portions of differing internal diameter; apiston having two portions of correspondingly diHering diameter to fitand more axially within said cylinder, one section of said cylindertogether with its piston constituting an explosive engine element, andthe other section of said cylinder and its piston constituting an airmotor element; a crank-shaft connected with and turned by said elements;a power-transmitting shaft distinct from said crank-shaft; an aircompressor interposed between and connecting said two shafts; and aconnection between the compressor and the air motor element; whereby aircompressed by the compressor is delivered to and caused to actuate theair motor element.

3. A self-starting internal combustion engine comprising, incombination, an internal combustion cylinder and an air cylinder;pistons working in said cylinders; a crankshaft; a connecting rodconnecting said pistons and crank-shaft; a powertransmitting shaftdistinct from the engine crank-shaft; an air compressor interposedbetween said shafts and serving to transmit motion from one to theother; an air reservoir; a pipe connecting said air reservoir with theair compressor; a pipe connecting the air reser voir with the aircylinder; a heater encompassing a portion of the air pipe connecting thereservoir and the air compressor; and a pipe leading from the exhaust ofthe en ine to the interior of said heater to supply ieat thereto.

4. An internal combustion engine comprising, in combination, an internalcombustion cylinder and an air cylinder; pistons working in saidcylinders; a crank-shaft; a connecting rod connecting said pistons andcrank-shaft; a power-transmitting shaft distinct from the enginecrank-shaft; an air compressor interposed between said shafts andserving to transmit motion from one to the other; a pipe connecting theair com presser with the air cylinder; a heater serving to heat the airduring its passage from the air compressor; and e pipe leading from theexhaust of the internal combustion engine to said heater to supply heatthereto.

5. The combination with un internal oombustion engine, a secondary ordriven shaft, an air compressor connected to the engine crank Shaft andthe driven shaft, an air heater and an air motor, for the purpose ofpropelling the driven shaft at lower rotative speeds than that of theengine crank shaft, 0l' an air reservo-ir for the purpose of storing airfor starting the engine, and means for charging the air reservoir withair at high pressure, either by the air compressor, or by the air motorworking` as an air compressor.

6. The combination with an internal cornbustion engine, a secondary ordriven shaft,

RCHARD F. PIATT,

Vitnessesz LOUISE Soniumn, E. J. CLvGE'r.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

